Sardine kabayaki is made in a similar way to eel kabayaki (grilled eel), which is perhaps the best-known kabayaki dish. But Sardine Kabayaki can be just as good as eel kabayaki at a fraction of the cost.
Sardine Kabayaki is an excellent alternative dish to eel, offering rich seasonal flavours along with high nutritional value (DHA/EPA and calcium) at a low cost.
About Kabayaki
Kabayaki (蒲焼き) is a particular grilling method, which was developed during the Edo period and is one of the traditional regional dishes of Edo (now Tokyo). Kabayaki is made by butterflying a long fish and removing the backbone. The fish is first grilled without seasoning, then grilled again with a sweet soy-flavoured thick sauce (sweet soy glaze). The sauce is called ‘kabayaki no tare’ (蒲焼のタレ) in Japanese. You can buy kabayaki no tare in a small bottle at Japanese/Asian grocery stores, but it is quite easy to make at home.
The best-known kabayaki dish is grilled eel (Unagi no Kabayaki, 鰻の蒲焼き) as in my recipe Unadon. When people hear the word ‘kabayaki’, most imagine eel.
However, other long fish such as salt-water conger eel, sardines, and Pacific saury are also used to make kabayaki. Kabayaki made with sardines and Pacific saury are considered more economical than eel because these fish are much cheaper.
They can taste as good as eel, especially when they are very fresh and caught in cold waters, because the flesh contains more oil.
So today, I will show you how to make Sardine Kabayaki, which can be just as delicious as eel kabayaki.
What’s in My Sardine Kabayaki (Grilled Sardines with Sweet Soy Glaze)
- Very fresh sardines
- Flour
- Oil (forgot to include in the photo above).
You can use other long fish, but oily fish work best.
Kabayaki Sauce
- Soy sauce
- Cooking sake
- Mirin
- Sugar.
How to Make Sardine Kabayaki (Grilled Sardines with Sweet Soy Glaze)
- Mix all the Kabayaki Sauce ingredients in a bowl until the sugar dissolves.
- Remove the heads and guts from the sardines, then clean and pat them dry.
- Butterfly the sardines and remove the bones.
- Dust sardine fillets with flour.
- Pan-fry the sardines.
- Add Kabayaki Sauce to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens.
Sardine Kabayaki is quite simple and quick to make. I think the most effort goes into butterflying the sardines.
Butterflying Sardines (see the video)
As shown in my recipe Stuffed Sardines with Perilla and Pickled Prum, sardines are often butterflied by hand instead of using a knife, once the head and guts have been removed.
To butterfly the fish, use your fingers to detach one side of the flesh from the backbone, then gently remove the backbone from the tail end.
The way you place your fingers between the flesh and the backbone can vary.
In Stuffed Sardines with Perilla and Pickled Prum, I showed how I held a sardine vertically and placed my right thumb on the right side of the backbone (I am a right hander), pushing the tip of the thumb between the bone and the flesh with the nail touching the bone.
In today’s recipe, I held the sardine horizontally and placed both thumbs in the middle of the body, pushing the tips of my thumbs above the backbone, with the pads of my thumbs touching the bone. I then moved both thumbs outwards to butterfly the fish.
I also tried a slightly different way of removing the backbone. Break the bone near the tail and gently lift it up, detaching it from the flesh. As you lift the bone, place the other hand on the sardine to keep the flesh flat.
If you place a couple of pieces of Sardine Kabayaki on a bowl of rice, you will have a delicious and filling Sardine Kabayaki Don, just like Unadon!
Yumiko
Watch How To Make It
Sardine kabayaki is made in a similar way to eel kabayaki (grilled eel), which is perhaps the best-known kabayaki dish. But Sardine Kabayaki can be just as good as eel kabayaki at a fraction of the cost.
- 4 sardines (about 350g / 0.8lb in total, note 1)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp cooking sake
- 1½ tbsp mirin
- ½ tbsp sugar
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Mix all the Kabayaki Sauce ingredients well in a bowl or a jar until the sugar dissolves.
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For each sardine, cut off the head with a knife and trim the flesh along the bottom of the belly, then remove all the guts.
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Clean the sardines under running water. Run your thumb inside the cavity from the head end to the tail along the backbone, scraping the blood strip with the tip of your thumb.
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Pat-dry the fish including the inside of the cavity.
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Hold a sardine horizontally and with your both thumbs push the tips into the centre just above the backbone so that you can feel the bone with your finger pads.
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Slide your thumbs outward along the bone towards the cut end and the tail end, pushing the thumbs towards the dorsal side.
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Gently butterfly the fish. The backbone should now be exposed on one side.
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Break the bone at the point closer to the tail and gently lift the bone up, detaching it from the flesh. The bone will detach easily if you place a few fingers on the tail end of the flesh and press down to hold it while lifting the bone.
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If the rib bones are still attached, scrape them off by removing the thin layer of the belly part of the flesh.
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Dust both sides of the sardines with flour.
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Heat oil in a frying pan at medium high heat.
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Put the fish pieces in the pan, flesh side down. Cook for 1-1½ minutes.
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Turn them over and cook a further minute or so.
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Add the Kabayaki Sauce to the pan and cook for 30-40 seconds (note 3) until the sauce thickens and reduces to about 1-1½ tablespoons. Use a spoon to drizzle the sauce over the fish a few times while reducing the sauce.
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Remove from the heat (note 4). Transfer the kabayaki to a serving plate, drizzle the sauce over the fish.
1. Each fish was 18-20cm / 7 1/16-8" long from the head to the end of the tail.
Two sardines per serving is a very small portion per person by Western standards. If you wish, you can increase the quantity per serving. In this case, the amount of sauce needs to be increased.
2. See the video. You can also refer to the section ‘HOW TO FILLET SARDINES’ in my post Stuffed Sardines with Perilla and Pickled Prum, which shows a slightly different way of butterflying a sardine. Either method is fine.
3. The time taken to reduce the sauce can vary depending on the heat level and the surface area of your frying pan. Since there isn’t a lot of sauce to begin with, it will not take long to reduce.
4. Do not leave the pan on the hot cooktop, as the residual heat will reduce the sauce too much.
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Sardine Kabayaki has a strong sweet soy flavour. So, I chose lightly flavoured side dishes to balance the palate. One of the side dishes should contain some protein, since the main dish is served in a small portion.
For the soup, I picked Norisui, because a clear soup goes well with this strongly flavoured main dish.
- Main: Sardine Kabayaki (Grilled Sardines with Sweet Soy Glaze) – today’s recipe.
- Side dish 1: Imitation Tofu Omelette (Gisei Tofu) – you can make ahead.
- Side dish 2: Persimmon Daikon Salad – or a simple salad with a lightly flavoured dressing.
- Soup: Roasted Seaweed Soup (Nori Sui) – or other clear soup such as Clear Soup with Wheat Gluten and Wakame Seaweed and Dried Tofu Skin Soup – Celar Soup.
- Rice: Cooked Rice.
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